In conveyor systems for articles such as cans or bottles, it is often desired to combine a mass of articles into a singe file lane. One way of accomplishing this is to provide a stationary guide above the conveying surface which is aligned at an angle with respect to the direction of travel of chains, belts or other surfaces which are traveling at increasing speeds to urge the articles toward the single file lane. With this type of passive system, however, the articles often become jammed at the single file lane requiring them to be cleared Also, the jammed articles can damage the conveyor.
Jamming is frequently caused by articles which have been knocked over or "downed" during the single file combining process. Downed articles are often knocked over by the stationary guide which, in combination with the moving conveying surface, causes the articles to rotate as they are being urged towards the single-file article lane. This induced rotation, can cause the articles to become unstable, spin out of control and tip over thereby jamming the conveyor. The rotation is exacerbated at points along the guide where the article is transferring from a lower speed to a higher speed belt or surface which induces rotation in the same direction as the stationary guide.
In addition to stationary guides, numerous single filing and article orienting conveyor systems include moving guides.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,232 to Beck and U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,504 to Smith disclose vacuum transfer belts for removing a single file of articles from the mass. Smith also discloses an oscillatory guide for jostling articles into a single file.
Beck and German Patent DE 3637-250-A to Nagema both disclose systems including individual article pockets for creating the single file. In Nagema, the pockets are formed by an auger.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,389,696 to Stiles, U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,324 to Caunt, U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,396 to Babunovic, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,224 to Denker and German DT 23 31 781 to Wieferig also disclose conveyor systems having a single moving guide traversing a conveying surface. The Stiles and Wieferig conveying surfaces comprise multiple belts or chains. The Stiles belts move at different speeds increasing toward the single file lane. The Babunovic and Stiles guides are designed to rotate articles on the premise that this rotation reduces or alleviates blockages.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,656,910 to Kraus, U.S. Pat. No. 2,743,807 to McKune and U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,240 to Dominici disclose devices having two moving guides for orienting/singulating articles from a single infeed conveyor.
What is desired, therefore, is a conveyor system for combining articles into a single file employing multiple moving guides which not only urge the articles across successively higher speed conveying surfaces but also minimize the induced rotation of the articles in contact with the moving guides to reduce jamming.